Room air conditioner



Feb. 14, 1961 w. H. WEBSTER 2,971,351

ROOM AIR CONDITIONER Filed June 3, 1957 2 SheeEs-Sheet 1 H H o o 9 e a 0g o 0 9 0 0 Q a 6 i o o p i o o o 9 0 o o o o 9 o o Q 0 5 1 o o O O O b0 D Q I 3 53 o o c 5 7 a] H n 34 23. 46 2 v a a g: i r b I a fl\ I. i

' 43 INVENTOR.

, a 41 g Wendell H. Z fester BY 45 44 m 7 Eu. 3 a y flttarng Feb. 14,1961 w. H. WEBSTER 2,971,351

aoou AIR connrrxouza Filed June 3. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.ZZ/endeZZ id ZMster flttorngy ROOM AIR CONDITIONER Wendell H. Webster,Albion, Mich., assignor to McGraw- Edison Company, Milwaukee, Wis., acorporation of Delaware Filed June 3,1957, Ser. No. 663,135

7 Claims. (Cl. 62-427) This invention relates to air conditioning unitof the type usually mounted in a window forthe purpose of cooling andintroducing into a room recirculated room air, or a mixture of room andoutside air, and for further exhausting room air to the outside whendesired. In particular, the invention pertains to damper means forcontrolling the circulation of air through the unit while it is carryingon any of the above mentioned functions.

A general object of the present invention is to provide an airconditioning unit whose partsaresoarranged and related asto result inminimal overall dimensions'for a given thermal capacity. 5 1

A further and more specific object of this invention is to reduce thespace requirements of and to reduce the number of dampers forcontrolling air circulation through the unit by employing a rotary diskdamper that occupies little more space than the usual sheet metalpartition walls which divide a unit into compartments. s

, A further object of this invention is to provide damper means that maybe controlled from a single station'for selecting any one of the aircirculating functions mentioned above. j

Still another object of theinvention, in its preferred form, is theprovision of a damper that cooperates with a perforated bulkhead orpartition wall to control air flow on the intake and exhaust sides of acentrifugal type room air circulating fan and between compartments ofthe unit.

Other more specific objects and advantages will appear from time to timethroughout the course of the specificanon.

' A more explicit description of the invention will now be set forth inconjunction with the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view, with parts removed and broken away, ofa window mounted type air conditioning unit incorporating the presentinvention and showing the rotary disk damper adjusted for closing theports interconnecting front and rear compartments and thereby effectingcooling and recirculating of room air only;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly in-section, taken on a line correspondingwith 2--2 in Fig. l;

- Fig. 3 is a sectional view, with parts broken away, taken through theback of the circulating fan scroll chamber on a line corresponding with3-3 of Fig. 2 showing the damper adjusted in correspondence with Fig. 1so that the unit cools and recirculates room air;

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 3 except that it shows the damper adjusted foradmixing fresh outside air into the stream of air being recirculated andcooled; and, r

Fig. 5 shows the damper adjusted for exhausting 'a portion of room airtothe outside'in addition to recirculating the remainder in the room.

The present invention .may be applied toany conventionalself-containedroom air conditioning unit. In the instant case it is illustrated inconnection with an air conditioning unit whose profile is particularlythin and compact, design effort being concentrated upon the prob-Patented Feb. 14, 1961 2. km of reducing overhang of the unit beyond theframe of the window in which it is mounted.

The unit illustrated in Fig. 1 has its outer decorative housing removedin order to show that, aside from the invention, it comprises the usualcomponents such as a metal base 1 which supoprts a functional sheetmetal enclosure 2. The unit includes a refrigeration compressor 3 whoseoperative connections to a heat absorbing evaporator coil 4 and a heatdissipating condenser coil 5 have been eliminated for the sake ofclarity.

The sheet metal enclosure 2 is divided into two principal compartments,including a cooling or heat absorb.- ing, frontcompartment 6 and a heatdissipating, rear compartment 7, .by means of a substantially verticalpartition wall or bulkhead 8, see Fig. 2. A portion 8' of partition wall8 is inclined forwardly so that the heat dissipating compartment canaccommodate the large condensing coil 5. The rear or dissipatingcompartment 7 is occupied by a fan motor 9 that is supported on abracket 10 resting on metal base 1. The rear shaft end 11 of motor 9carries a one-piece condenser fan 14, of

the propeller type, adapted to draw air into compartment 7 through aplurality of downwardly directed inlet louvers 15. Fan 14 draws freshoutside air through louvers 15 and. directs it upwardly throughcondenser coil 5 whereupon it is discharged to the outside ambientthrough a plurality of outlet louvers 16 which direct the outgoing airin'a strata above that of the incoming fresh air. Both compartments 6and 7 are closed at their ends by suitable fiber board or metal sheets,for example.

Viewing Fig. 2 it will be'seen that the cooling compartment 6 isprovided with a centrifugal fan 17 of the double inlet type. The frontinlet 18 of the centrifugal fan is aligned with an opening 19 through asheet metal wall 20, and the rear inlet 21' is partially occupied byspokes 22 provided with a hub 23 for fastening the fan to the front endmotor shaft 12. In practice the number of spokes 22 may exceed the fourshown, but some of them have been eliminated here in order to avoidobscuring air, circulating'ports in partition wall 8.

Centrifugal fan 17 is located closely between 'vertical partition walls8 and 20 which combine with an arcuately shapedsheet metal bottom 26 todefine a scroll chamber 25 surrounding the centrifugal fan 17. Thescroll chamber opens at its top, see Figs. 1 and 2, and into a dischargechamber' 27 which conducts air through cooling coil 4, a filter 28 andout into the' room being cooled. Cooling coil 4 is supported on ahorizontal plate member '29 forwardly of fan 17, to define a room airplenum chamber 30 in conjunction with the base 1. The front of theplenum chamber 30 is provided with a filter 31 which removes air borneimpurities from the front intake of the fan 17 as filter 28 removes itfrom the air discharged by the fan.

In Fig. 1 it will be seen that there is provided a space 32 ofapproximately equal height to the scroll chamber and set off by avertical wall 34 for the purpose of accommodating a pushbutton station33, a temperature selector 35 and other electrical control elements, notshown.

Attention is now invited to the novel damper arrangement for placingcompartments 6 and 7 in communication on either the intake or exhaustsides of centrifugal fan 17, or for isolating the two compartments fromeach other.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that vertical parti tion wall 8 isprovided with intake ports 38 and exhaust Noise reducing and sealingfelt 43, whiehis 3, is attached by gluing or other suitable means to.arotary. damper disk 44 located to the rearof partition wall 8, see Fig.2. Referring again to Fig. 1, and looking endwise into fan 17, it willbe observed that intake .3 ports '38, in wall'8, arealigned with theinterior or suction side of the centrifugal fan. The exhaust ports 40,however, are located in wall 8 on the exhaust side of centrifugal fan 17and outside of its outer periphery as definedbythe'tips'of blades'45, pv

lt is evident that when intake ports 38am open as in Fig. 4, fresh airwill be drawn from rear compartment 7 through ports 38, 39 and into therear inlet 21 of fan '17 after whichjit will be expelled throughcooling.

coil 4 and into the room. I

Accordingly, when inlet ports 38 are closed and exhaust ports 40 areopen as in Fig. 5, air that has been drawn from the room through thefront inlet 18 of fan 17 will be pressurized in scroll chamber 25 andpartially exhausted through exhaust ports 40 into compartment .7, afterwhich the air .is forced into the outside ambient through condenser coil5 under the further influence of condenser fan 14. The remainder of theair is cooled and recirculated toithe room. a

'When vboth the intake ports '38 and exhaust ports 40 are closed as inFig. 3, air is drawn from the room through plenum chamber 39 and frontfan inlet 18, and recir- 'culated to the room under theinfiuence of thecentrifugal ifan which forces it through cooling coil 4'.

The outline of damperdisk 44 is clearly apparent in Figs. 3 to 5 whereit is seen to constitute a single piece 17, the damper disk 441sprovided with four intake ports 39 which may be registered withcorresponding intake :ports 'as in Fig. 4. v

The margin of damper disk 44 is provided with a series of stamped gearteeth 46 that are enmeshed with a coacting closed-end pinion or gear 47.Gear 47 is pinned through its hub to an operating shaft 48 that extendsforwardly to a control station .in front of the unit. Shaft '48 may bejournalled in several places such as where it passes through partitionwalls'8 and 20, and the back of 'a channel 49 that, extends laterallyacross the front 'of' the 'unit; A m anual shaft control knob 5 0 thatis accessible fromthe front .of the unit points to indexingdesignations, 'notshown, but inscribed on the front of the unit in orderthat the operator may select the various damper positions as illustratedin Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

:Damper control shaft 48 is surrounded'by a compression spring 51 whichis interposed between partition wall 8 and a fixed washer 52 in suchmanner that shaft 48 is constantly biased toward the front of the unit,or to the left when viewed in Fig. 2. The closed end face 53 of gear4'1" has a small notch 54 that normally receives a detent projection 55which is pressed in the sheet metal from the front toward the rear ofthe partition wall 8.

' t'ional force to initiate movement of the damper in either a clockwiseor counterclockwise direction from the Fig.

3 position to respective Fig. 5 andFig. 4 positions.

Damper disk 44 maybe supported for rotation on partition wall 8 in anysuitable manner. In this case the "damper 44 is provided with a centralclearance hole 56 for admitting motor shaft 12 therethrough. Airleakagealong the shaft is prohibited by the felt 43 being per-.fonatediby :a "hole ,that 'is slightly under the shaft diamfelt.

eter so as to secure a wiping fit between the shaft and The partitionwall -8 has a large hole 58 whose edges act as a bearing for tabs orcars 59 that are pierced forwardly from damper disk 44 from the marginof its hole 56. Ears 59 pass tightly through appropriate slots in thefelt and they are bent radially outward on the front of partition wall 8so that the damper cannot withdraw from hole 58 in the partition walland so the damper may rotate on the cars.

In the commercial unit, bearing area between the damper 8 and itsbearinghole 58 is improved by inserting the body portion of a collar notshown, in the nature of a shallow flanged cup, through hole 58 so thatthe flange portion overlays the hole margin. The cup portion extendsbackwardlyinto hole Y58 and provides an annular bearing surface aboutthe interior thereof. The cars 59 pass through the collar and hold thedamper against the wall. This detail has been omitted from the drawingbecause' it is not indispensable -to understanding the significanceofthenovel dampe'rmeans and 'how it directs the air in various pathsthrough the unit.

The operational mode of an air conditioning unit provided with thenoveldamper means will now be summarized. Under operatingconditionselectrically driven refrigerating compressor 3 maintainsevaporator-coil 4 'at low temperatures for absorbing heat from room aircirculating through it. Condenser coil 5 is adapted to When the 'damper'44 is positioned as in Fig. 3', there is no communication between frontcompartment 6 and rear compartment 7. Accordingly, rotation ofcentrifugal fan 17 by fan motor 9 causes air to be drawn from the roominto front fan inlet "18 after which the fan forces it upwardly throughchamber 27, through cooling coil 4 and into the room again.

When the damper is moved counterclockwise to its Fig. 4 position byrotating manual control knob- 50 clockwise, exhaust ports 40, 41 remainclosed but'intake ports 39, inthe damper, and ports 38 in the partitionwall 8 register. This connects rear inlet 21 of the fan to the rearcompartment 7 so that fresh air, which has been forcedxinto compartment7 by the propeller fan 14-may be drawn into'the centrifugal fan rearinlet 21 and mixed ,with further air drawn from the room through thefront inlet 18 and then jointly forced into the room through coolingcoil 4.

'When the damper isiadjusted as -in Fig. 5, only exhaust ports 40, 41are in registry. Under these circumstances, part of the room air thatisdrawn through front in inlet 18 for being recirculated is diverted atthe bottom of the scroll chamber 25, 'atthe discharge side of theCentrifugal fan, throug'h the exhaust ports 40, 41, whereupon it isadded tothe stream'of air passing through conjd enser coil 5 and*finally ejected to-the outside-ambient.

It has been disclosed how all desired air circulating functions of anair conditioner can be "controlled from a single station bymeansof adamper that occupies a minimum amount of spaceinconjunction witha-partition wall that produces a particular compartmentation of theunit. It will be understood, however, that the damper may be located indifferent places in difierently compartmented units and that it may bemodified insofar as its configua room communicatingheatabsorbingcompartment and a heat dissipating compartmenga fan in saidabsorbing fan and provided with an intake port adjacent said intake sideof said fan and further provided with an exhaustport, a substantialyplanar rotary damper adjacent said partition wall and having a portregistrable with the intake port in said wall, and means for rotatingsaid damper for selectively placing said ports in registry and therebyinterconnecting said compartments for drawing air from the secondcompartment axially through the fan and into the room being cooled.

2. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing and apartition wall separating said housing into a room communicating heatabsorbing compartment and a heat dissipating compartment, a fan in saidabsorbing compartment adapted ot impel the flow of air therethrough anddischarge the same into the room being cooled, said partition wall beingexposed to the intake side of said fan and provided with an exhaust portadjacent the region of discharge from said fan and further provided withan intake port, a substantially planar rotary damper adjacent saidpartition wall and having an exhaust port registrable with the exhaustport in said wall, and means for rotating said damper for selectivelyplacing said exhaust ports in registry and thereby interconnecting saidcompartments for discharging air from said first compartment into saidsecond compartment.

3. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing and apartition wall separating said housing into a room communicating heatabsorbing compartment and a heat dissipating compartment, a fan in saidabsorbing compartment adapted to impel the flow of air therethrough anddischarge the same into the room being cooled, said partition wall beingadjacent an end of said fan and provided with an intake port and anexhaust port lying respectively inside and outside the periphery of saidfan, a substantially planar rotary damper adjacent said partition walland having ports registrable with corresponding intake and exhaust portsin said wall, and means for rotating said damper for selectively placingcorresponding intake ports in registry and thereby interconnecting saidcompartments for drawing air from the second compartment axially intothe fan and discharging it into said first compartment, or placingcorresponding exhaust ports in registry for discharging air from outsidethe'periphery of said fan from said first compartment into said secondcompartment.

4. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing and apartition wall separating said housing into heat absorbing and heatdissipating compartments each having an openingmommunicating with thespace being conditioned and the outside air respectively, a double inletcentrifugal fan in said absorbing compartment disposed with one of itsinlet sides presented to the room opening and the other inlet sidepresented to said partition wall, a cooling coil disposed in saidabsorbing compartment in the discharge path of said fan, a condensercoil in said dissipating compartment and also a condenser fan adapted todraw air into the last named compartment and expel the same through saidcondenser coil and said outside opening, said partition wall having anintake port lying within the periphery of said centrifugal fan andadjacent one inlet side thereof, a substantially planar rotary damperadjacent said partition wall and having a port registrable with theintake port in said wall, and means operatively coupled with said damperfor rotating the same and selectively placing said ports in registrywhereby fresh air may be drawn from the heat dissipating compartmentinto one inlet side and mixed with air from the other inlet side of saidcentrifugal fan and discharged into the room.

5. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing and apartition wall separating said housing into heat absorbing and heatdissipating compartments each having an opening "communicating with thespace being conditioned and the outside air respectively, a double inletcentrifugal fan in said absorbing compartment disposed with one of itsinlet sides'presented to the room opening and the other inlet sidepresented to said partition wall, a cooling coil disposed in saidabsorbing compartment in the discharge path of said fan, a condensercoil in said dissipating compartment and also a condenser fan adapted todraw air into the last named compartment and expell the same throughsaid condenser coil and said outside opening, said partition wall havingan exhaust port lying outside the periphery of said centrifugal fan andin the region of discharge from said fan, a substantially planar rotarydamper adjacent said partition wall and having exhaust port meansregistrable with the exhaust port in said wall, and means operativelycoupled with said damper for rotating the same and selectively placingsaid ports in registry and thereby interconnecting said compartments fordischarging a portion of room air from said centrifugal fan into saidheat dissipating compartment.

6. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing and apartition wall separating said housing into heat absorbing and heatdissipating compartments each having an opening communicating with thespace being conditioned and the outside air respectively, a double inletcentrifugal fan in said absorbing compartment disposed with one of itsinlet sides presented to the room opening and the other inlet sidepresented to said partition wall, a cooling coil disposed in saidabsorbing compartment in the discharge path of said fan, a condensercoil in said dissipating compartment and also a condenser fan adapted todraw air into the last named compartment and expel the same through saidconsender coil and said outside opening, said partition wall having anintake port adjacent said inlet end of said centrifugal fan and lyinginside the periphery of said fan and said wall having an exhaust portlying outside of the fan periphery, a substantially planar rotary damperadjacent said partition wall and having ports registrable withcorresponding intake and exhaust ports in said wall, and means forrotating said damper for selectively registering intake ports to drawoutside air from said dissipating compartment through said other inletside of said centrifugal fan, or for registering exhaust ports to impelair through said centrifugal fan from the room into said secondcompartment.

7. A self-contained room air conditioner including a housing havingfront and rear openings which are presented to the room beingconditioned and the outside ambient air respectively, a partition wallseparating said housing into front and rear compartments, a motor drivendouble inlet centrifugal fan in said front compartment adapted to drawin air through one inlet from the room being conditioned and todischarge air from its outer periphery, said well being provided withintake ports communicating with the interior of said fan through itsother inlet, said wall further being provided with exhaust portscommunicating with the discharge side of said fan, a substantiallyplanar rotary damper adjacent said wall and having intake and exhaustports selectively registrable with said corresponding first named ports,means for rotating said damper for registering corresponding ports witheach other, said means including gear means on said damper andcooperating gear means engaged therewith, whereby rotation of said lastnamed gear means to a first angular poistion registers said intake portsfor adding air from the rear compartment to air in said frontcompartment, and rotation to a second angular position registers saidexhaust ports for expelling air from said front compartment to the rearcompartment, and rotation to a third angular position closes all portsfor recirculating air through said front compartment only.

(References on following page) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,CERTIFICATION OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2,971,351 February 14, 1961Wendell H. Webster fied that error appears in the above numbered pat- Itis; ;.-ereby certi I n and that the said Letters Patent should read asent requiring correctio 5e corrected below.

Column 5, line 17, for "01:" read to column 6, line 55, for "well" readwall Signed and sealed this 4th day or July 1961.

(SEA L5 Arrest; a

ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents

